The present invention relates to the care and maintenance of outdoor plants. More particularly, the invention relates to a hood for use in combination with a plant enclosure adapted to prevent loss of outdoor plants due to cool weather conditions.
Although many people enjoy growing plants, few enjoy the labor involved when a sudden drop in temperature requires their plants to be moved indoors or to be covered. What is more, many plants in large containers are simply too heavy to be readily moved, thus requiring them to either be covered or to be lost to inclement weather. Unfortunately, it is often difficult to completely enclose an outdoor plant and is almost always extremely time consuming to do so adequately. Additionally, even though the plant enthusiast may at first think that he or she has adequately enclosed such a plant, many enthusiasts labor many hours to this end only to discover that wind conditions accompanying inclement weather have completely dismantled the ad hoc wrappings. As a result, Applicant has in a previous related U.S. patent application described a plant enclosure that may be quickly and easily assembled over nearly any size outdoor plant. The described plant enclosure is also economical to manufacture yet reliable in use, even in high winds or extremely low temperatures. Finally, the described plant enclosure is also readily adapted for use with hanging plants as well as plants in pots on the ground or actually growing in the ground.
Applicant has discovered, however, that although the previously described plant enclosure is adequate for the protection of many types of plants, some types of plants are difficult to completely enclose notwithstanding Applicant""s previously described contributions to the art. In particular, plants having relatively voluminous foliage at or near their tops are especially difficult to completely enclose. Unfortunately, many of such plant types, like the palm for example, are among the more expensive of plants. It is therefore an object of the present invention to improve upon Applicant""s previously described plant enclosure by providing an embodiment that is readily adapted for the enclosure of plants having relatively voluminous upper structures. Additionally, it is an object of the present invention to provide such an embodiment that meets each object met by Applicant""s previously described plant enclosure.
In accordance with the foregoing objects, the present inventionxe2x80x94a plant enclosure for protecting outdoor plants from cool weather conditionsxe2x80x94generally comprises a sheet of thermally insulating material scored to form a plurality of panels. Each panel is substantially identically shaped such that the sheet may be expanded and formed into an approximately conical shape from a folded shape, the folded shape being substantially identical to the shape of each panel. A plurality of fasteners are attached to the panels and adapted to maintain the sheet in either the approximately conical shape or the folded shape. The plant enclosure also comprises a hood portion affixed about an orifice through the upper portion of the panel structure, the hood portion being adapted for quickly and easily enclosing the upper foliage of an enclosed plant. Finally, the plant enclosure may also be provided with additional features such as, for example, wind stabilizers to prevent toppling in high winds or heating elements to provide extra protection in even very cold weather conditions.
Finally, many other features, objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the relevant arts, especially in light of the foregoing discussions and the following drawings, exemplary detailed description and appended claims.